No Amber Alert issued after girl goes missing following murder

A West Ashley woman is dead and her husband, the suspect in the murder, was on the run with their 2-year-old daughter for several hours.

For six hours last Friday, investigators were on the scene gathering clues and information, but in that time period no Amber Alert was ever issued.

In six hours, a person could travel to Jacksonville, Fla., or to Atlanta, Ga. The child was later found in Sumter at a relative's house. Deputies confirmed the murder suspect, Chesley Black, had dropped his daughter off there.

The State Law Enforcement Division requires local law enforcement to submit a checklist of criteria before they can issue the Amber Alert. Things like: Is the child in danger? Have other possibilities of the child's whereabouts been eliminated?

The sheriff's office said they sent in a checklist to SLED to have the Amber Alert issued, but they say they were told the case didn't meet all the criteria on the checklist.

It is up to the investigating agency, not the State Law Enforcement Division, to decide whether all that criteria has been met and to let SLED know when to trigger an alert. In this case, the sheriff's office and SLED were in communication about the situation and SLED was on standby to send out an alert.

The child was found safe at 10 p.m. in Sumter. Deputies went there to pick up the child and bring her back to Charleston.